NIDA grant for NicVax research
Suprabha Baniya
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: News
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NicVax, designated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been considered a productive investment towards solving the immense health problems caused by nicotine addiction. In the United States, nicotine addiction causes nearly a half a million deaths annually.
According to Nora Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse, "seven years ago, NIDA embraced this concept and decided to support and guide a major nicotine vaccine effort in collaboration with Nabi, a Florida-based pharmaceutical company."
This grant will help pay for the first pivotal phase 3 trial of NicVax and enables Nabi to retain its current staff as well as support 150 jobs at NicVax research sites around the country.
Earlier studies on NicVax show that the vaccine is safe and that it is capable of generating antibodies that blocks nicotine from entering the brain. The results also show that smokers using NicVax refrained from smoking more for a longer period of time than those given a placebo.
Recent data also show that NicVax stimulated the production of long lasting antibodies that helped prevent smoking relapse for up to 2 months in about a quarter of the study participants.
NicVax works by generating antibodies that bind to nicotine, thus boosting the immune system. Nicotine is a tiny particle that passes through the lungs, the bloodstream and finally to the brain. When antibodies trap these tiny particles of nicotine, they become too large to get into the brain.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals focuses on developing a series of first and second-generation products that address unmet medical needs and offer opportunities in core business areas: nicotine addiction and gram-positive bacterial infections.
To find out more, visit www.drugabuse.gov.
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